1^st (3) Derek McGarrity/Dermot O'Gorman (Impreza WRC) 20.31.8

2^nd (13) Tapio Laukkanen/Harri Kaapro (Impreza WRC) 20.35.1

3^rd (1) Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 20.37.2

4^th (2) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Keily (Corolla WRC) 20.48.6

5^th (4) Eamonn Boland/Damien Morrissey (Impreza WRC) 20.59.5

6^th (9) Tim McNulty/Julian Nangle (Impreza WRC) 21.12.2

7^th (15) Roy White/Greg Shinnors (Lancer N) 21.46.3

8^th (23) James Foley/Lisa Roe (Lancer N) 21.46.5

9^th (8) Donie O'Sullivan/Paul Nagle (Focus WRC) 21.51.8

10^th (12) Denis Cronin/Helen O'Sullivan (Celica) 22.03.9

Just outside the leaderboard: Aaron MacHale 22.04.1: Dessie Keenan 22.14.6: Colm Murphy 22.16.3:

Austin MacHale led after the first stage, Tapio Laukkanen after the 2^nd and then Derek McGarrity after the 3^rd. Close stuff indeed. Austin fluffed the start of stage 2, didn’t get the response switched on on time, or something, and was 9s slower than Laukkanen, 5 down on McGarrity through the stage. In stage 3, which was shortened down to 2.1 miles, McGarrity seemed to really take the brains out and set a time of 2.23. MacHale and Donnelly were 2.26. Laukkanen and Boland on 2.28.

Eugene Donnelly made a cautious enough start, and then on stage 2 switched off the anti lag because he reckoned it was affecting the handling of the car some way, pushing the nose, but overall Eugene is settling down now to his new Corolla. Tapio reported no problems, just taking it very steadily. Eamonn Boland reports no problems. Maurice Gass is off the pace a bit with his new Hyundai, was finding too much brake bias to the front. Patrick Elliott's’Impreza WRC was reported to be nose down in a ditch, and wasn't going any further. Having said that, never say never in rallying. We reported Ray Breen stuck in a field in stage 1. The Waterford man has just arrived in here to service, the front of his Subaru minus a few bits and pieces, but basically straight enough, Ray having changed a puncture in the muddy field to get going. JJ Fleming still has transmission woes, his Impreza isn’t selecting gears properly, it would appear to be an electronic/software problem, and the engineer cannot get the computer to re-calibrate.

In Group N Roy White says he is taking It cautiously enough, although the spectators don’t necessarily agree with that, Roy just a fraction of a second ahead of James Foley’s gpN Lancer. Foley reckons that he burned his clutch with an over enthusiastic start on the second test, and is hoping it will be OK. Aaron MacHale is still struggling to find grip, but otherwise alright. Dessie Keenan had a spin in the 2^nd stage, while Tom Holton also had a spin in there and Willie Fannin had a spin in stage 3. Guy Woodcock is still in transmission trouble, could be down to a faulty clutch. Eoin Doyle is reportedly off in the 2^nd stage, parked in a field after a slippy 5 right.

In the Modified section of the rally we don’t have exact times just yet, but it looks like Anthony O’Halloran is just ahead of Tom Halliday who is just ahead of Padraic Price.

Latest news from Sweden is that Markko Martin leads from Loeb, Gronholm is 3^rd, Tuohino is 4^th, Solberg 5^th and Sainz 6^th. That was after stage 9. Andrew Nesbitt was 35^th after stage 8. Andrew reportedly struggling with tyre difficulties, gravel and icy stages well rutted. More news after stage 4 ..hopefully: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net